Pizzeria Bianco

Pizzeria Bianco started nearly 30 years ago in a small corner of a local grocery store in Phoenix.

Now with 2 locations in Phoenix including an expanded menu with pasta and entrees at Town & Country.

The Original

When Chris Bianco started the diminutive Pizzeria Bianco inside the back corner of a neighborhood grocery store in 1988, little did he know that he would be such a driving force in the slow food movement and specifically the artisanal pizza front.

Chris, who won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2003, helped spawn a generation of independent and artisanal pizzeria’s, lending his advice, wisdom and food philosophies to dozens of fellow chefs and restaurateurs.

Chef Nancy Silverton, who founded La Brea Bakery and was a co-founder of Pizzeria Mozza, stated in her book The Mozza Cookbook, “If there was any pizza that I did aspire to, it was a pie made by Chris Bianco, whose Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, AZ is a mecca for the pizza obsessed. When I took a bite of Chris’ pizza, I was speechless. Eating it turned out to be a life altering experience.”

For Chris, the food is a result of his relationships and his intention. Relationships with the farmers, the local producers, his family, customers and staff; and the respect and sincere intentions he approaches his recipes with, as well as the many interpersonal relationships that have influenced his philosophy and who he is.

As for the pizza – critics, customers and fellow chefs have had their say over the years, including:

The New York Times call the pizza “perhaps the best in America” (“The Road to Pizza Nirvana goes through Phoenix”, NYT, July 2004.)

Rachael Ray declared Pizzeria Bianco the winner of her Pizza Madness Bracket, a contest of pizzerias across the nation in 2010.

Food & Wine has labeled Chris’ pizza as “arguably the best pizza in America” (June 2005, June 2009)